Moroccan Woman Accuses Assu 2000 CEO of Rape and Sexual Harassment in Paris Complaint

After the CEO of the Assu 2000 group, Jacques Bouthier, who was indicted in particular for "human trafficking", "rapes" and "criminal conspiracy", then released for medical reasons, it is the turn of the CEO Amir Messadi to face French justice. He is the subject of a complaint filed on October 10 in Paris for sexual harassment and rape. The plaintiff Sarah (the name has been changed) made this decision after the arrest warrant issued by the Attorney General of the Court of Appeal of Tangier against the Franco-Tunisian in July last year did not receive a favorable outcome. France does not extradite its nationals. "My client therefore has no choice today but to seize the French justice system, as the law allows due to Mr. Messadi’s nationality," thus deciphers the lawyer of Sarah, Anne-Claire Le Jeune. The accused had fled to France while the investigation opened in Tangier (Morocco) was still ongoing.

In her complaint, Sarah "claims to have been openly courted by the CEO of the group, regularly present in the Tangier subsidiary," where he owns a house, reports Le Parisien. While she did not accept his advances - including a promise of marriage and a job in Monaco - she was forced by her boss to go out with Messadi. The latter would have blackmailed her into keeping her job. "She first explained to me that Mr. Messadi had a lot of money, a villa in Dubai, luxury cars, that I could evolve more easily... And then she clearly made me understand that I had no choice. She knew very well that I couldn’t afford to be unemployed, or to be deprived of my bonuses, which make up a very large part of my salary," the plaintiff confides.

Sarah recounts four acts of rape. During a trip to Marrakech in December 2021, Amir Messadi would have dangled a project manager position in front of her, "consistent with her master’s degree in organizational communication obtained in France." She recounts that the manager had knocked on her door at night before physically imposing himself in her room. "It’s as if he had changed face, it was super violent. I never would have thought he would go that far," she says. In her complaint, she details humiliating practices and recounts three other episodes that "would have taken place at the Hilton Hotel in Tangier."

The outbreak of the Bouthier scandal in France will mark the end of her ordeal. "A liberation," Sarah will say. Today, the young woman is demanding justice. Sarah had in the meantime been fired for abandonment of post - she has taken the case to the Labor Court - after being placed on sick leave. She finds herself unemployed to this day. "I have a phobia that it will happen to me again, I survive thanks to outstretched hands, and I am still followed psychologically. They abused me and my dignity," she summarizes.